Code RED
by Zinck
Summary: Would you stay and fight 'til the end? Sequel to Zinck's Story. Rated 'M' for violence, strong language and sexuality.
1. A Few Years Later & Still Deeply In Love

**_Permaneo Pugna – "The Last Battle" or "To Stay 'Til The Last Fight" _**

**_I ask you, readers, what would you do? If you were given the choice to fight in a war in order to protect your family, the ones you cared about and loved, knowing full well you might not be alive the next day? Would you battle? Or would you take the easy way out? The cowardly way. Cypher's way._**

**_Would love, chivalry, or even politics play a part in it?_**

**_You feel like you're in control of your life, but are you really?_**

**_This probably seems irrelevant right now, dear reader, but think about it and apply it to this story… and in your own daily life. You'll be surprised._**

**_It's recommended to read my other two stories first, "Zinck's Story", which you absolutely have to read first before this jumbled up mess of my ramblings of a fiction in order to make any sense what-so-ever. And there are also references hidden in the text that connect with my other work, "Last Letter" and later on in this story, it becomes very important._**

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(Told from Zinck's POV)

We fell back on the bed, lips locked. They parted once when Caitlin tugged the old, torn, blue cotton shirt from me, tossed it in a random direction across the room, and then met together again furiously. It was almost if we were trying to see which one would suffocate the other first.

Righting myself on top of her, I kissed her face once gently before moving onto her neck and grazing my lower row of teeth over her jawbone.

Moaning pleasurably and grabbing at my ribs, she traced a metal plug above my ab muscles and whispered. "Oh God, Zinck… When was the last time we've done this?"

"I don't know," I grunted against the flesh of her neck, "But you talk too much."

I silenced her words with my mouth again and ran my hand up and down her side, about to grab the hem of her shirt.

Just then we heard a soft knock on the door. It was Eve.

My eyes snapped up, wide and alert.

_Not again…_

I hope I locked the door. I can only imagine what my precious little angel of a daughter would think I was doing to her mother…

_Well… better now than later..._

"Mommy? Daddy?" her voice was that of any other four-year-old's: pure innocence.

"Yeah honey?" I answered quickly, probably too quickly.

"Daddy? Can you get me a glass of water?"

"Sure honey. I'll be right there." I heard her footsteps trail to the kitchen. I turned back to Caitlin who was smiling at me understandingly.

I smiled mischievously back and said, "I'll be back later to finish this."

"What, is that some unwritten rule pertaining to all current and former jock lacrosse players? Never leave anything unfinished? Or perhaps a better word would be, _unresolved?_"

She was joking. I could tell. "Hmmm… Yep. Gotta honor the code."

"I look forward to it." She said as she ran her fingers through my hair, starting with my forehead and ending at the back of my skull where my brain-jack was. She pulled me down and kissed me softly.

I got out of bed, grabbed my shirt, pulled it on, walked to the door and saw that I did lock it. It seemed I did have some common sense after all…

Eve stood waiting by the faucet; she was still too little to reach it on her own. She looked so sweet and innocent standing there, clutching at the blanket she had around her shoulders to protect her from the not-so-warm nights in Zion. She smiled and motioned for me to pick her up. I ran to her, snatched her up by the waist and threw her and caught for playfully in the air. She giggled and laughed out loud with joy. It would be a while until I was able to do this again; tomorrow, Caitlin and I were leaving for two weeks of duty on the Neb II. Obviously, Eve wasn't allowed to stay onboard our ship with us. The army was no place for a four-year-old. When we left Zion every couple of months or so, she would stay with a man named Kid and his family. He was one of Neo's and my best friends. He was like that lovable, goofy uncle everyone has. Eve loved him like one too.

Finally, I stopped the game, clutched her body against my hip, and hung on to her with one arm. I handed her a mug and let her fill it up at the tap herself. She took a sip and fingered one of my arm-plugs. I sighed as I thought about how lucky she was that she was free born; she hadn't been fed lies through plugs her entire life. I realize that if it hadn't been for the Matrix, I would have died an _inevitable_ death, and I would have never met Caitlin, but I despised the program and everything it was meant for just the same. She never asked about the plugs before, but I knew she was curious about the fact that Caitlin and I had them, but she didn't.

That's why I wasn't too surprised when see looked up at me and said, "Daddy, why do you and mommy have these weird things on your bodies, and I don't?"

I sighed again. "Well honey, that's tough to explain…" This was going to be hard to make into simple terms for a four year old. "Your mom and I came from a place far away where everyone who lives there has them."

"Oh. Where?" She looked confused.

"A place called the Matrix."

"I hear about that all the time, but where is tha-" She yawned. Perfect timing.

"You look tired. Maybe you should go to bed and we can talk about it tomorrow?" I asked her, grateful for this welcome interruption.

"Okay. Daddy, can I sleep in your room tonight? It's so cold."

My first thought was to make up some excuse as to why she couldn't, but then I caught her eye. Those big, sweet, innocent eyes, the exact same ones as her mother's. I thought this could actually be a good thing. Besides, Caitlin and I had our own room together on the Neb II. The only thing I worried about was how loudly the metal ship echoes… But every time I left Eve here, I felt guilty. Some nights I'd lie awake, long after the crew had gone to bed and Caitlin had fallen asleep against me, wondering if she was all right. It's not that I didn't trust Kid, or most of my other friends for that matter, but I couldn't help it. Call it over protectiveness, call it posttraumatic stress disorder, hell, call it OCD for Christ sakes…

I felt myself literally cave in and say, "Okay." God, in the real world I was so weak, but in the Matrix, well, that's a different story…

I set her on her feet, took her hand in mine, and walked back to the bedroom. Caitlin was on the bed, propped up on one elbow to face me. As we entered the room I furrowed my eyebrows together and mouthed an "_I'm sorry_." She just smiled back happily. She probably knew this was going to happen. Eve lay down in the middle of the double bed in between us. She curled up close to Caitlin and fell asleep quickly. I reached my arm over Eve to rest it on Caitlin's lower stomach. We didn't tell Eve yet that we were expecting another little baby brother or sister for her in about five months. I fell asleep just after my wife did.

The next morning Caitlin and I were packing our bags and preparing to leave once again. Eve was watching us.

"Why do you have to leave so much?" Eve asked. Caitlin and I froze in our tracks.

Guilt.

We looked at each other.

"Well princess," Caitlin began, "We have to go do our jobs."

"The city needs us. We'll be back in two weeks sweetie." I finished for her and went back to packing.

We walked to Kid and his family's apartment with Eve on my shoulders. I knocked and Kid opened the door a second later carrying his youngest son, Balthazar.

"Please come in."

He seemed delighted to see us again. Kid's wife, Nebula, was sitting on the couch reprimanding Skoop, their second-youngest, and most rambunctious son. He was also Eve's best friend. He was about a year and a half older than she was, but that didn't matter to them. Caitlin and I hugged Eve goodbye before she walked back to play with Skoop. Kid handed Balthazar to Nebula and walked with us out of the apartment.

"Good luck man." He said to me, shaking my hand. He turned to Caitlin.

"Good luck too you too, Cat." After the years we were unplugged, everyone started to call Caitlin 'Cat', which was my special nickname for her years before that. But neither of us seemed to mind that it became her rebel name now. Well, I didn't any way, but she's so good at hiding her emotions…

"Thank you Kid." We said together. He hugged us both. We left for the Dock as Kid headed back into his apartment.

Even though I would never say it out loud to her, because of my fear for my physical well being, I hated the idea of taking Caitlin with me back onboard the Nebuchadnezzar II. She was pregnant. I couldn't help but be protective, okay… _over protective… _of her and the baby, but she could still _legally_ work on the ship for another two months.

We headed to our room to unpack. Once we were finished, we walked to the Core to get a briefing on the missions and duties that lied ahead.

"Ah, Zinck, Caitlin, there you are." Morpheus exclaimed happily. He was pretty much the only one who called her by her full name. Zee, Link, Neo, Niobe and Amir were already waiting. "I guess we can start now." He walked authoritatively in front of us all and stood with one arm behind his back. "This should be a pretty routine two weeks."

We were told short biographies by Morpheus of the anomalies we were going to 01 to unplug and retrieve. One of the names kept playing over and over in my head, for no reason. The name was Distortion. Morpheus told us he was a 15-year-old boy who lived in Mega City, where Neo told me he and Trinity both lived before they were unplugged.

At the end of the briefing, we were given different jobs to perform on the ship. Naturally, Amir and I were once again given the job of fixing pipes. Niobe was the pilot along with Zee as co-pilot, and Neo and Cat were in charge of keeping the mess hall and the infirmary in livable conditions. I knew Morpheus had picked this simple and easy, yet vitally important job for the both of them because of Cat's condition and Neo's blindness. I could tell she felt angry at this news, but it was another thing for her to pick a fight with her own captain.

We scattered to our assigned jobs: Amir and I to the boiler room, Zee and Niobe to the cockpit, and Cat and Neo to the mess hall. I felt the ship shake as the engines started.

_She lives again_

We began our long journey back to 01.

As I was mending some gas lines, the name Distortion kept rolling around in my head, distracting me from my work. More than once, Amir caught me while I was in deep thought. He would snap his fingers in front of my face to bring me to. After the fourth or fifth time, he became worried.

"Zinck, man, are you okay?"

The truth was I felt dizzy and slightly sick to my stomach. _No… _"I'm fine." I replied.

He wasn't convinced. "Maybe you should go to the infirmary."

"I'm fine." I repeated.

After a few minutes, my illness became worse. I thought it was probably due to a leaking gas line somewhere in the room, but Amir didn't seem fazed.

"I'll be right back, just need some fresh air." He nodded, and I left.

I went in search of Neo and Cat.

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**_Please, do review. :)_**


	2. Dark Hallway

"The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."  
-Allan K. Chalmers

**(Read the first four chapters first, or it won't make any sense. Duh…)**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

EnJOi

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix because I am not one of the W. brothers. I do not own rights to any of the original characters of the Matrix. The characters of Zinck, Caitlin, Eve, and Amir ARE mine though. Everything I write here is not for personal profit, it just makes me feel better to type out my anger with the world. Grrr… Also, anything that is similar in this story to any other story, FanFiction or professional, is purely coincidental. **

(Told from Zinck's POV)

Halfway to the infirmary, my vision became blurred. I felt like I was going to pass out. I pressed my back against one of the cold, thick steel walls of the dark hallway, let myself slowly lower my body and sat on the floor. I held my head in my hands to try to keep the room from spinning. It didn't help. A swirled, blurry vision played in my head. There were two ghostly figures, dressed in white suits and sunglasses. One of them clearly said "Distortion" as he scowled, pulled out a heavy pistol and shot three times, _exactly_ three times. The sounds emitted from them staccato, the pauses in between long and deliberate. I heard the most bone-chilling scream in my life from a voice I thought I recognized. The images faded from my mind, and I felt a little better. There was something terribly wrong with me; I knew it. I stood up and made it the rest of the way to the infirmary. There I found Neo and Cat working on upgrading the health monitors.

I strode over to one of the little metal beds and sat down. I felt lightheaded again, and cold, yet I was sweating. I could feel every beat my heart made in my head. I rubbed my temple soothingly. Cat rushed over to me as soon as she saw me in such horrible condition. She placed her palm on my forehead to check my temperature.

"Zinck, you're burning up!" She was worried; I have never gotten sick before, in the real world that is. I've had colds and the flu in the Matrix though, everyone has. Illness was a leading cause of death onboard the fleet. "Lie down." I hated feeling so weak, but not complying with her orders would only make things worse. I did as she said. She put a cool towel on my forehead and put multiple layers of thick blankets over my body. Neo came over with a syringe full of a clear liquid; he also looked very worried. He explained it was a sedative that would knock me out for a few hours and would relieve my fever. I couldn't form words to explain was happened and what was happening to me; the pounding in my head was too severe.

"Okay." I squeaked out. He took my left arm, felt for the plug, and drained the liquid into it. I immediately felt drowsy and fell asleep a second later.

When I woke up, I felt perfectly well. I sat up and felt the IV needle they had plugged into my right arm plug. I was glad they waited to do that until I was asleep; I HATE NEEDLES. The one they insert into your brain-jack is different, you can only feel it for a second, and then you find yourself in the Matrix, or in the construct, or in some other pseudo place. I quickly pulled it out and rubbed my tender arm soothingly. I knew I would unconsciously rub it like that throughout the night. I looked at one of the newly upgraded heath monitors they had hooked me up to. My heart rate, my temperature, everything was normal. I guessed it was late; only the small emergency lights remained on.

I walked back to my and Cat's room and opened the metal-latch door slowly, carefully as not to wake her. She was deep in sleep, smiling about something she was dreaming. Her breaths were deep and measured. I snuck into the little double cot beside her, wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her up closer to me, so that her back was against my chest. She woke up, turned to face me and opened her eyes tiredly.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked, her voice hoarse from having just woken up.

"I feel perfectly fine actually. I'm sorry, I really didn't want to wake you up."

"You realize every time you try to do sneak into bed beside me without me noticing, you end up waking me up anyway?" If it hadn't been for the slight smile visible on her face in the dim light, I wouldn't have known she was only joking.

"Yeah, I noticed that." I chuckled. She smiled and lay back in her original position. I laid my head back on the pillow, inches from the back of her neck. I could smell her scent all around me. The smell of sweat, synthetic soap, and the newest addition: antiseptic. I rested my forehead against the nape of her neck and looked down the row of plugs there. I thought about how both of us, ten years ago, were so open-minded, so aware, that we both had very little trouble adjusting to the truth; the truth that the only reality we ever knew was just an elaborate lie. I doubted we would have been so accepting of the real world if we weren't freed together. I eventually fell asleep thinking about how I would explain the strange vision I had to Neo, and how I would ask him if he had the same reaction to the hacker alias: Distortion.

The next morning I woke up feeling even better than last night. I remembered that today was the day we would finally arrive at The Machine City, (01), and free Distortion. I got out of bed extremely carefully; this time I was determined not to disturb Cat. After about five minutes of slight, tiny movements, I was out of bed. I silently rejoiced in my triumph and left.

I made my way to the mess hall were Neo was enjoying his morning meal of synthetic slop.

"Hey dad." He looked up from the little metal bowl.

"G' morning Zinck. Feeling better?"

"Yeah, I feel a lot better."

"Good. I was worried."

"I know. Dad, did you have any strange feelings since yesterday after the mission briefings?" I hoped I wouldn't sound too stupid. His spoon stopped halfway to his mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"I-I had a vision."

"So did I, in my dreams. What happened in yours?' I told him about everything I saw. When I got to the part about the ghostly men who had fired the three shots, he scowled and slammed his fist on the table.

"Twins!"

"Twins?" I asked

"They worked for the Merovingian. They are exiled programs that can become transparent, and are very deadly. I thought they died. I swear if they try to do anything to you, or to Cat…"

"Calm down. I take it you didn't have the same vision then?"

"No, I didn't" He looked sad, detached; when I brought the subject of the vision he had back into the conversation.

"What was yours of?" He stood up slowly and took his metal spoon and bowl to the sink to rinse them.

He was silent for a while until he turned to face me and finally said, "It wasn't a vision. It couldn't be." He paused, "I saw your mother."

**I swear my chapters keep getting shorter and shorter…**

**Maybe it's because of a lack of ideas…**

**I'd love to hear yours, send me a message or leave me a review to tell me what you think should happen next.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**THANX YA!**


	3. Huh?

"The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."  
-Allan K. Chalmers

**IMPORTANT:**

I didn't know where else to put this into the story, so I'll just do it here. Neo realized years ago just how lucky he and Zinck both were. He finds Zinck must have cheated death twice, for his mother had died twice while pregnant with him. He had to have been concieved that night Neo and Trinity were in Zion waiting for the ship to recharge; it was the first and last time they had done something that intimate. He wonders if Trinity even knew...

EnJOi

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix because I am not one of the W. brothers. I do not own rights to any of the original characters of the Matrix. The characters of Zinck, Caitlin, Eve, and Amir ARE mine though. Everything I write here is not for personal profit, it just makes me feel better to type out my anger with the world. Grrr… Also, anything that is similar in this story to any other story, FanFiction or professional, is purely coincidental.**

(Told from Zinck's POV)

I didn't know what to say. I stood staring at him, mouth open, eyes wide. I thought, "_Huh?_"

"I was back in the Matrix, I guess. I wasn't dressed in my real world clothes, but in the ones I wore the first couple of times I entered the Matrix." He said, not waiting for a reply from me as I sat down across from him. "It was a vision from the past. I was back in the Heart 'O The City Hotel, where Smith…" he cleared his throat, "killed me."

"What! You died!" I shouted at him, confused and angry. He failed to mention this to me before. I could tell this was a story he wouldn't have ever wanted to share with me, if I hadn't brought up the subject of weird feelings and visions…

"Shh! We don't need to wake up the whole ship. Yes son, Smith shot me about a dozen times in the chest, and, I died; my heart stopped beating." All I could do was stare at him angrily, my fists clenched around the lip of the table so tight, my knuckles started to turn white. I wasn't sure who I was angrier with: Neo or Smith. Then he did something extremely unexpected: he began to smile.

"And why exactly are you smiling?" I spat with a dangerous tone.

"Trinity had already been brought back to the ship through the hard line. She watched my heath monitor fail; she didn't believe what was happening. You see, the Oracle years before told her she was going to fall in love with the One, whether she wanted to or not. It was prophesied the One would finally end the war with the machines. Then I came along. She loved me, which meant _I_ was the One. But if I was, I couldn't be dead; I hadn't fulfilled my purpose. When she professed her love to me and kissed me, I was brought back." His smile broadened. My death grip on the table loosened considerably. We never talked much at all about her. If I wanted to know something, I would usually go to Morpheus. I tried never to bring her name up around Neo; I didn't want to cause him any emotional pain. His smiled finally retreated into a frown as he said, "I'm sorry Zinck. I know you don't like to talk about her…"

"_What?_"I said. "You hardly ever talked to me about Trinity because you thought it saddened _me_? I was worried about you."

He looked stunned for a second and then said, "Well then, I guess there is no reason why we can't talk about your mother."

"Yeah, have anything else you would like to share with me?" I didn't mean for it to come out as bitchy as it did.

"As a matter of fact there is. There is a whole list of things I wanted to tell you, but I wasn't sure of how you would handle it." His mood lightened, and so did mine. We finally broke through that wall we both hid behind for so long.

"What?"

"Did you ever have the feeling, back when you still lived in the Matrix, that dreams felt more real then when you were awake?"

"Yes." _He felt that way too?_

"The one I had last night was like that; it felt even more real than, well, the real world. But the strange thing was in my dream after I was brought back to the Neb, I dreamt of events that never really occurred. In reality, your mother was thrown by the EMP blast onto my chair. We kissed and never said a word to each other; there was no need. In my dream, however, we kissed and then she began talking to me. We'll get back to that later, right now there are some other things you need to know about our pasts first." He sat on the bench next to me, with one leg on either side. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Zinck, I'm amazed with you. I'm so proud of the way you take care of your family. I'm amazed you even exist. You survived your mother's death, _twice_."

"Twice? You're joking?" I smiled a little, but the expression on Neo's face was dead serious. My smirk dissipated. "How's that possible?"

"Well, she died once in the Matrix and I was able to bring her back, but the second time it was in the real world, I couldn't do anything, I couldn't even see. We guess the machines found you and plugged you into the system. You and I wouldn't be alive right now if we weren't supposed to do something to alter the future in some way."

"I…" Wow, so much information…

"So, back to my dream. Trinity said something about fulfilling our purposes. I thought I had already done that, but if I had, I would be dead; there would be no use for me to remain here with you. I'm glad I didn't, now I have the chance to be a father, and a grandfather, twice." He smiled. "But that means that we are supposed to do something, but what?"

"It must be coming soon. Why else would we have these strange things happening to us both lately?"

"I agree." I heard a squeaky metal door be thrown open and someone run out towards the bathroom. Neo heard it too, probably fifty times louder than I did. "_Morning sickness_", I thought. I got up from the table and sprinted to the bathroom.

Cat was there leaning over the sink. What were the contents of her stomach were now in it. I went over, placed my hand on her shoulder and rubbed the small of her back as to calm her. She rinsed her mouth out with a cup of water and then turned to face me. I could see she didn't look well either, weaker than normal, most likely due to the pregnancy.

I braced myself for the worst physical beating of my entire life as I said, "Cat, I don't want you to come with me on the mission to free Distortion today." She looked absolutely pissed.

"Why?" Her hard eyes staring through my flesh, into my core. "I'm not letting you go anywhere without me."

"Neo will be with me." I sounded like a little child begging his mother to go let him play with his friends on a school night or something. It was pathetic.

"I'm coming, period. Understand?" I nodded, I knew better than to push my luck any farther. "_Hormones._" I thought. I wrapped my arms around her, cradled her against me, and rested my head atop hers as a silent way of apologizing and reminding her how much I loved her. Sort of like a peace offering…

We walked to the core where the crew was just starting to assemble. For once, we were not the last ones. As Morpheus recited the plan to us, I quietly took Neo aside to ask his opinion to whether or not we should tell Morpheus of everything we had experienced.

"No, don't tell anyone else. The sight works just like being told something by the Oracle: for us and us only. I understand why you told me, that's okay, but no one else. Understand?" I seemed to be asked this a lot as of late.

"Yeah, but what about the Twins thing. They fired shots for God's sake! Now we know there is certain danger!"

"I can take care of them, don't worry." He walked back to the huddle, sure of himself. I believed him. I always believed in him. I've seen the things he was able to do in the Matrix, like stopping bullets in midair. I slapped my hand up to my forehead and thought, "_Duh_." I followed Neo and rejoined the group.

The time had come. We all sat in our chairs as Link, Zee, and Amir prepared us for departure. I squeezed my eyes shut and dug my fingernails into the arm rest of the chair as I felt the long, cool metal spike scrape against the metal outside of my brain-jack and slide all the way up into my skull.

When I opened my eyes, I was staring through the same familiar dark sunglasses.


	4. The Night Before

Dedicated to all my reviewers: Sydney Andrews, Duncan McGregor, Malisa, PurpleVenom9, PhiaTheDucatiChick, Psychotic Vodka, Gwen Lutheal, and Mercy19. Thanks for all your support! I love you guys!

Background of just what happened in Neo's dream where Trinity appears in her first ghostly visit to help Neo and Zinck in their adventures. Ooooooo… (I hope you like it Syd!)

I guess I did finally find a place to put some random, miscellaneous information in the story. Sorry if it sounds redundant!

EnJOi

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix because I am not one of the W. brothers. I do not own rights to any of the original characters of the Matrix. The characters of Zinck, Caitlin, Eve, and Amir ARE mine though. Everything I write here is not for personal profit, it just makes me feel better to type out my anger with the world. Grrr… Also, anything that is similar in this story to any other story, FanFiction or professional, is purely coincidental.**

(Told from Neo's POV)

**The Night Before:**

I couldn't even feel the shots still lodged in my chest. Everything was numb. Why should I feel them? Nothing in here was _real_. I turned around at the shrill ring of the phone in room 303 and ran to it as fast as I could.

I felt a warm presence on my chest. Now I can feel? Am I back in the real world? I opened my eyes to see Trinity's looking back at me. Her scared, teary eyes communicated a level of love too deep to express in words. I felt another sensation of warm as she stroked my cheek with the back of her hand. I didn't even realize how cold I was until that moment. A cool feeling shot up my spine and I shivered a little.

I thought, "_Fuck the cold Neo, you just died for God's sake! And now you're complaining to yourself about the cold? Be stronger than this._"

My high emotions quickly pushed aside any other thoughts in my mind that were about anything else but her. God I wanted her. _I loved her._ I reached up took hold of the back of her ivory neck; I could feel the coolness of the metal plugs there contrasting with the heat her skin was generating. Another kiss, but how could you top the first one? The first kiss between us that I wasn't even there to witness, to _feel_. She alone can ever recall that event, not me. But that was in the past, this was the present. "_Make it count Neo._" I thought as I pulled her down towards me and our lips joined. The cold was quickly replaced with heat that was coursing through my body, to my heart.

She pulled back reluctantly and smiled down at me.

"Neo it's me, Trinity. It's me."

She found my hand and interlaced her fingers with my own. Now I remembered everything. I remembered Zinck and Cat, Eve, and…Trinity's death.

"Trinity, I…"

"Neo, shh." She pressed one of her fingers to my lips. "Neo, you and Zinck, you need to fulfill your purposes. I know Zinck has had premonitions. Talk to him, but make sure you let _him_ come to _you_. If you go to him, you'll scare the hell out of him." I could detect a hint of a stiffled laugh in the last comment.

I grabbed her around the waist and squeezed her body against mine "I will Trinity. I will."

She returned the hug and whispered, "I know you will Neo. I know. I love you Neo."

"Trinity." I could feel the tears building up in my eyes.

I awoke back in my bed on the Neb II. The blankets were twisted around my legs and body in a very uncomfortable manner, which suggested I had been moving in my sleep _a lot_. A cool sweat had saturated the thin undershirt I was wearing. I sat up. My head dropped into my hands.

"_My Trinity. God, I miss you…_"

**Okay. Yeah I know it was extremely short…**  
…**but I hope you liked it!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	5. Peace of Mind

Hey, read this when listening to "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns and Roses! It goes together well.

Hey you guys reading this story, please read and review. I can see on my stats a lot more people are reading this than reviewing. That's right, I can SEE you! Mwwaaahaahaa! lol

EnJOi

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix because I am not one of the W. brothers. I do not own rights to any of the original characters of the Matrix. The characters of Zinck, Caitlin, Eve, and Amir ARE mine though. Everything I write here is not for personal profit, it just makes me feel better to type out my anger with the world. Grrr… Also, anything that is similar in this story to any other story, FanFiction or professional, is purely coincidental.**

(Told from Zinck's POV)

**(Continued from Chapter 6: "Huh?")**

Neo was to my left sporting his usual attire: long black trench coat, black heavily polished dress shoes and dark sunglasses. Cat was to my right dressed in her usual black pants and sleeveless shirt. Morpheus was standing across from me in a black alligator skin coat, green tie and purple suit underneath. We were standing in a circle in Drouger's Old Record Shop around a small square table. The hard-lined analog telephone rested on top. When it began to ring, Morpheus picked it up.

"We're in." Is all he said into the cheap, red plastic receiver before hanging it back up. Before we left, I checked my shoulder holsters under my black leather jacket to make sure my twin semi-automatic pistols were tucked away there safely and also checked for the extra clips in the inside pockets of the jacket. I felt for the soft leather knife cases on my left ribcage, right shoe, and one right next to my right side gun holster. I drew one of the seven-inch Beretta hunting knives and looked at the reflection of the room behind me to see if we were all clear. These knives were a last resort, always a last resort.

"Why do you always do that?" Neo asked

"Do what?" I said tracing the beautiful, yet deadly curves of the blade with my eyes, not really paying attention to the conversation.

"Check your weapons? It's a computer program, it loads the same way every time."

He was right. I looked at him suddenly and slipped the knife back into place in its holster under my jacket. "It just gives me peace of mind." I smiled a little.

It was about 12:20 pm Matrix time. What we did on the ships was sleep during the Matrix day, and work during the Matrix night. I preferred to work in the dark; it provided excellent cover for our usually black-clad bodies if we ever got into a tough spot. We made our way out of the little shop though the backdoor, into a dark alleyway. Neo and Morpheus _always_ walked in front, with Cat and I walking shoulder-to-shoulder behind them. We must have looked really intimidating to everyone who was still plugged in. They would try to stay as far away from us as they could get.

We walked about half a block until we arrived at the apartment building Distortion lived in. Our two black Ducati motorcycles and black sedan we had requested to be uploaded were right outside of it, waiting for us. Morpheus and Cat waited in the sedan while Neo and I went up to get Distortion. It was definitely an old building; the wood structure was deteriorating. I was afraid the stairs would collapse beneath our weight as we ascended to the sixth floor. Finally, we arrived at room 606, where we last saw Distortion on the green and black Matrix screens, trying to hack into a government program just ten minutes ago. I stood behind him as Neo knocked on the front door.

"Shit!" we heard someone within say. Through the thin, poorly made plywood door we could hear someone scrambling around inside.

"He thinks we're the police." I said

"If he doesn't come with us, that's who he _will_ be meeting. Not to mention what will happen to all of us if we get caught with him." Neo replied. I moved away from the door and grasped the pistol on my left side with my right hand as Neo prepared to break it down. One strategically placed ram of Neo's broad shoulders and all that was left of the door were splinters of wood; the orange spray-painted 606 now lied in seven different fragments. Neo entered first. I drew my pistol for protection and followed in right after him. What was it about the cool metal handle of the gun that was so reassuring to me?

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" the boy was standing half-dressed in the middle of, what I assumed was the living room of the apartment, his hands raised in the air.

"I'm not going to shoot you. I'm not so sure what the police will do however." I stated calmly, raising an eyebrow as if shooting him was something so absurd. I placed the gun back into its holster, hiding it from view.

"W-What? You're not the police?"

"No. I'm here to _save_ you from them." He stared at me, obliviously confused. I maintained my calm as I could start to here the blare of the sirens of police cars. My best guess was eight blocks away and closing. "Do you know the question?"

"What is the Matrix?"

"Yes. If you want to know, come with us. We won't let the police touch you." He looked skeptical. I removed my glasses and approached him grabbing his jacket from the floor along the way and held it out to him. "Please, just trust me." His only reply was a silent nod as he took the jacket from me and pulled it on over his bare chest, all the while never breaking eye contact with me. The eye trick scores once again…

"No time for the stairs." Neo said as he too realized how close we were to being caught.

"The window." I pointed to a partially boarded up hole in the wall over Distortion's shoulder. Neo turned to me and nodded. He grabbed Distortion's shoulder, ran to the window, and kicked away the wood. I ran after him.

"What the hell? We're six stories up! This is suicide!" Neo ignored him as he grabbed him around the waist, jumped out the window, and floated down safely to the hard concrete below. I jumped out after them, back-flipped, and landed in one piece beside them. That was what was so great about computer programs: you could quite literally do _anything_ you put your mind to.

"Whoa." Was all the boy could say after that display. Cat opened the back door of the sedan next to us.

"Get in." She ordered Distortion. He obeyed. As soon as he was inside, Morpheus slammed on the gas and drove as fast as he could to the waiting hard-lined phone in the opposite way of the sirens, leaving Neo and I with the motorcycles. They quickly were so far ahead of us that they were out of view.

Neo and I ran to the Ducatis, started them, and drove as fast as we possibly could in the direction Morpheus went. It wasn't fast enough though. Police cars were soon on our tails, but a good forty feet away. I could hear shooting over the roar of the motorcycle's engine. I willed my motorcycle to go faster. I tried evasive tactics: zing-zanging across the road, keeping my head down the entire time.

It worked for a while until one of the bullets hit my back tire and sent me flying foreword. Another lodged itself in the back of my calf muscle. I had been going at least one hundred miles an hour on the vehicle. I knew if I didn't do anything it was lights out for me. I couldn't die this way; I refused to, I had a family to take care of.

"Neo! Help!"

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** Can you _feel _the suspense?  
**


	6. Use The Force, Neo

I just noticed (when I actually took the time to review my own work for once) that in previous chapters I had typed "foreword" instead of "forward", oppsie. Wow, I am deeply stupid. :P lol

EnJOi

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix because I am not one of the W. brothers. I do not own rights to any of the original characters of the Matrix. The characters of Zinck, Caitlin, Eve, and Amir ARE mine though. Everything I write here is not for personal profit, it just makes me feel better to type out my anger with the world. Grrr… Also, anything that is similar in this story to any other story, FanFiction or professional, is purely coincidental.**

(Told from Zinck's POV)

"Neo! Help!" I thought those would be my last words. Neo looked back at me right as I called his name. Before I even knew it, he flew off his motorcycle toward me, leaving the vehicle still speeding down the eerily lighted street on its own. He grabbed me by the shoulders and gained altitude. About five blocks away he landed on a rooftop and inspected the wound the bullet made that was still stuck in my left leg. It hurt like hell. I couldn't even stand. As soon as he released his grip on me, I collapsed toward the ground, yelping in pain.

"Shit!" Neo said as he caught me under my arms and lowered me to the hard concrete. "Try to hold still." I grabbed his shoulder hard and gritted my teeth together as he 'used the force' to materialize his hand into my leg and remove the tiny silver fragment of metal. I felt much better as soon as it was out. He again grabbed me under the arms and hoisted me up into a standing position. I was glad to find that I was _able_ to stand now, even though it caused me extreme pain and discomfort.

"What now?" I asked

"We need to get to the hard-line, now." Neo replied looking in the direction of the awaiting device. He grabbed me again (what was I, a rag doll?) and took flight. Within a matter of seconds we arrived back at the record shop. I ran to the front door, ignoring the searing pain shooting up and down my leg, Neo was hestitant. He just stood there. I was in too much of an adrenaline rush to get to Cat to care what he did at this point. The door was boarded up but I kept running full force at it. It swung open violently at the harsh blow and fell off its hinges.

"Zinck! Help!" One of the 'Twins' my father told me about had Cat in a body lock, her arms held behind her. Her back against his chest, a switchblade was threatening her long, slender neck. The man was just like the one I had seen in my vision. Pale white, ghostly, deadly. He was smirking cruelly. A deep gash was visible in Cat's right side. She was still wearing her sunglasses, but I was sure that if I could have seen her eyes then, they would have been full of fear. This was exactly the reason I didn't want to come with us on this mission. The fear I myself was feeling for her at that moment quickly turned to anger. He would die; I would see to it personally. No one would threaten the lives of my true soul mate and unborn child and live to tell about it.

Before I even knew what I was doing, my right hand shot to the knife case on my left side ribcage. The next instant, the knife was stuck right in between the one twin's eyes, just above the brim of his sunglasses. I immediately regretted doing that. I could have hit her. Her death would have been all of my stupid fault.

Morpheus was standing near the door, staring in disbelief as to what I had just done.

Cat walked toward Morheus, holding her injured side and drawing her hidden pistol. "Morpheus! Who are they? What do they want?"

"Distortion." Someone answered. It wasn't Morpheus, it was someon-thing else. Just then, an albino man that looked exactly the same as the last one materialized out of the air in front of me. I unconsciously held my hand out in front of me.

Then I heard them, the shots; a gun pointed right at my chest.

Hey! To all you guys reading this. I hoped you EnJOi-D it so far. I try to keep this as much as your story as I can, I'll take requests or reviews.

Thanx ya!


	7. Bullettime

I've been working on this chapter for quite a while. I wanted to make sure it was as close to perfection as possible before I posted it. It's a bit longer than my last couple of chapters. I hope you like it! XD

EnJOi

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix because I am not one of the W. brothers. I do not own rights to any of the original characters of the Matrix. The characters of Zinck, Caitlin, Eve, and Amir ARE mine though. Everything I write here is not for personal profit, it just makes me feel better to type out my anger with the world. Grrr… Also, anything that is similar in this story to any other story, FanFiction or professional, is purely coincidental.**

(Told from Zinck's POV)

Everything seemed to slow. I could see the waves of energy produced by the first bullet as it wedged itself into left my hand, breaking it. I dropped to my knees in agony. My sunglasses flew off my face by the sheer force of it. I knew I wouldn't be able to use my hand again, even in the real world, until the bones shattered underneath the flesh had healed. I could see the top of Distortion's head peak out above the counter behind Morpheus. His eyes were wide, terrified, staring at me.

The gun was now directly pointed at my heart as the second bullet was shot. Everything was still in slow motion; I had to make it out of this. I leaned back in an attempt to dodge the deadly silver bullet. I could tell I was moving at super speed; I believed the reason for this was I was _thinking_ at super speed. Every thought possible flashed though my mind: _You've been in worse situations before Zinck. You and Neo have taken on multiple SWAT teams armed with shields, semi-automatic guns, and nerve gas and walked away unscathed. You can't die now; Cat and Eve need you, not to mention the rest of Zion…_

I've never moved this fast before, but it wasn't fast enough. The bullet found its way into my right shoulder, and I collapsed to the ground. I was just glad it was me in my position and not Cat. I silently prayed for Morpheus to get her out alive, with or without me. She raised her gun and shot at the Twin, but hit nothing but air as he ghosted. She was now completely out of ammo.

I looked up at the Twin, who had advanced on me like a wild animal about to go in for the killing blow. The gun was now but two feet from my face.

"This is for my brother." I closed my eyes as I heard the last shot fired.

Cat screamed, "Zinck!" So that's who I heard screaming before.

I thought: _That's it, I'm dead._ But after about three seconds after the shot was fired, I was still alive, or at least, I thought I was. I cautiously opened my left eye, then my right one to see the bullet, frozen in midair, inches from my nose. The Twin stared at me in confusion, then dropped to the ground, dead. Neo stood behind him, bloody knife in hand. The bullet in front of my face fell to the ground, completely harmless. _Thank God for Neo…_

Now I was fully aware of the pain coursing through my body. I writhed on the floor silently as Cat, Neo, and Morpheus ran to my aid. I was yelling at myself through my thoughts: _Nothing in here is real Zinck! The pain is just what your body is being told to feel by the Matrix!_ My thoughts of denial actually seemed to work.

"Zinck." Cat whispered grasping my uninjured hand firmly in hers, kneeling down beside me, ignoring her own pain I knew she was experiencing from the deep cut in her side. It was bleeding somewhat heavily.

"I'll be fine. Neo, Morpheus, help me up." They did as I told them. I stood in between them, balancing myself. Distortion abandoned his hiding place to stand right in front of me, his jaw slack in awe. His Matrix-code green eyes stared into mine, there were many emotions he was going through right then, but I was in too much pain to try to decode them. "We need to get the kid out, fast." Morpheus nodded in agreement.

"The equipment is upstairs." He said.

"Let's go."

Morpheus, Neo, and Distortion cleared the steps to the upper level of the building in record time, with Cat and I not far behind.

"Quickly now. Sit here." As Morpheus prepared Distortion for the real world, I searched the little room that looked like it had once been used for board, most likely by the previous owner, and eventually found what I was looking for: a towel. I grabbed the dusty, but otherwise, clean towel and ripped a thin strip from it using my teeth. I wrapped the strip of fabric around my injured hand and threw the rest of the cloth to Cat, who held it on her wound, to try and suppress the bleeding. Now I was beginning to get worried. How much blood could she lose? And what about the baby? Oh God, the baby. I completely forgot until this moment; too much had been happening for me to focus on anything other than our immediate survival. I was almost shot and killed for God's sake! My eyes dropped to the ground in shame. Who was I kidding? That was no excuse; I felt I had failed at being a father, a husband, a provider and protector.

I made my way over to her and tilted her chin up to look me in the eye using my good arm (Well, not really good, but better of the two). It was a painful gesture, but pain was temporary, our love was forever.

"Cat, look at me. Are you going to be all right?"

"I'll be okay." She said, staring up to me with an icy glare over top of her sunglasses, but she couldn't completely mask the pain she was in coupled with anxiety. I prayed to myself that Niobe and Zee were now safely steering the ship above the fields waiting for Distortion to be rejected by the system and thrown into the river as waste.

I looked over Cat's shoulder to where Distortion was sitting. Green met blue and brown as we looked at each other for a quick second before his head snapped back to face Morpheus. He had been watching the entire time, I was sure of it. His expression was of pure surprise and astonishment after he saw me trying to console Cat. I raised an eyebrow at him as he tried his hardest to avoid eye contact with me, ever again. _What? Why is so hard for you to believe that Cat and I are together? Wait until we're back in the real world and you find out that we're married and have a daughter, you weird little punk…_

I wasn't exactly sure why I was so mad at him; deep down, I knew none of this was his fault. That caused me to wonder; _just exactly whose fault was it then?_ My mind searched for a list of possibilities, but only came up with only one in the end: The Merovingian. _Had he tried to incise another war through this act?  
_Distortion gasped loudly before disappearing into thin air in a surge of blue electricity, into the real world. As soon as he was gone, the hard-line began to ring downstairs. We ran as fast as possible toward freedom. Morpheus was the first, then Cat, then me. Neo was always last to return home, he practically insisted on it.

I opened my eyes as Amir pulled the needle out of my jack. I was mortified to see Morpheus carrying my unconscious wife from the Core, in the direction of the infirmary. I jumped out of the chair and yelled in pain as I felt the tension of the bruise deep within my calf muscle. I kept running anyway. She was bleeding. There were bloodstains on her chair, completely saturating and ruining what little padding was left on it.

When I finally made it to the infirmary, Cat was laying on one of the two metal beds in the room; the other was reserved for Distortion. Neo and Link had followed me and readied the crane they were about to pull Distortion out of the river with. Amir tended to Cat, pressing a large amount of gauze to her wound and inserting an IV into her arm plug. Now I could see just how bad it really was. The cut was so deep in the Matrix that it was just as deep, and deadly, in the real world.

Morpheus grabbed my shoulder and forced me into a chair before I could get any closer to her. He deposited three painkillers in my right hand and placed a mug beside me. I popped all of the particularly large pills into my mouth at once, and drained the mug of its water as Morpheus quickly set my badly injured left arm in a makeshift sling and tied it tightly around the back of my neck. His green wool shirt was covered in her blood. He went over to help his son attend to Cat.

The receiving door in the floor opened and the claw was dropped. When it emerged, a naked, barely conscious Distortion was in its grasp.

"Zinck, a blanket." I got up, snatched a blanket off of the table next to me and handed it to Neo, who in turn, handed it to Link and wrapped Distortion in it. My face was the last thing the poor boy saw before everything became just for too much for his newly freed mind to handle, and he drifted into unconsciousness. _Great, now he's going to remember me **forever**._

I dragged my chair across the room to place next to Cat, sat down, took her hand in mine, brought it up to my face and kissed it gently. Her health monitor showed she was stable at the moment, but we wouldn't know about the baby until we saw a specialty doctor back in Zion. I closed my eyes and rubbed the back of her hand against my cheek as I thought: _Oh God Cat, I'm so sorry. I should have been there for you. This is all my fault…_

Neo was helping Link get Distortion onto the bed next to Cat's so that they could start to rebuild his muscles, which shouldn't take that long for him, twelve hours maybe. He was still very young.

I fell asleep, still clutching Cat's hand in my own, cursing the Merovingian in my mind and wishing, praying the baby would still be alive and healthy when we returned to Zion.

**I hope you're EnJOi-ing where this FanFic is going!**

**We're just getting started!**

**(Yeah, and I know I use the word "unconscious" too much…)**

**Please leave me a review!**


	8. Redundant Introductions

EnJOi

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix because I am not one of the W. brothers. I do not own rights to any of the original characters of the Matrix. The characters of Zinck, Caitlin, Eve, and Amir ARE mine though. Everything I write here is not for personal profit, it just makes me feel better to type out my anger with the world. Grrr… Also, anything that is similar in this story to any other story, FanFiction or professional, is purely coincidental.**

(Told from Zinck's POV)

I woke to a gentle nudge on my shoulder and someone's anxious, slightly scared voice.

"Sir? Sir?" I opened my eyes tiredly. Distortion was standing above me, now fully dressed. I thought he would be unconscious for longer than he was.

_He must have found the spare clothes they laid out for him._

I was still holding on to Cat's hand for dear life. She wouldn't be waking up any time soon; she was pumped full of painkillers, sedatives and fluids since she arrived, and the rest of the crew was dead asleep by now.

"Sir? Are you okay? What's happened? Where am I?" His face was now lined with worry. His eyes were slightly glazed from tears. As I looked on at him in this state, the last thing I would have expected happened: My paternal instincts kicked in. My eyes came down from their usual high of being hard, impenetrable shields from emotion to becoming soft, just for him. This was something only usually reserved for only Eve and Cat.

_The poor boy, he's terrified. Morpheus isn't even up yet to explain anything to him._ I sighed. _I guess it's up to me…_

I stood up and looked down at him. He was several inches shorter than me. He continued to avoid my gaze.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just… your eyes, they…" I thought the best way to ease his nervousness was through humor.

"Are two different colors? Yeah, I can see that now, from my reflection on your shiny, bald head." This was my pretty sad attempt at a joke, but it seemed to do the trick. He looked up at me, slightly smiling now. "I'm Zinck." I returned the smile and held my hand out for him to shake. He hesitated for a second, like he was determining whether or not it was a safe move, then grabbed my hand and shook it firmly.

"Chris."

"No, your real name." He looked confused for a second then opened his mouth to speak.

"Distortion." I practically laughed in his face about this redundant introduction.

"I know."

"How?" I laughed again.

"We know a lot about you Distortion." He considered this for a second, and then turned his attention to Cat who was still sleeping silently under the heavy, brown wool blanket. His smile dissolved.

"Is she going to be okay?" I looked to the ground, frowning now.

"I hope so." I unconsciously twirled the gold wedding ring around my ring finger on my left hand with my right thumb, as was habit for me when I was worried. Cat and I never wore them in the Matrix; we felt we had to keep our private lives and work lives separate, and real. The tiny reflection of the metal band caught his eye.

"You're married?" He asked. I looked at Cat's tiny figure, barely visible under the heap of blankets. I held her left hand in my right to show the matching ring she was wearing.

"_We're_ married." I could tell he was not unlike any other man that we unplugged; _all_ of them had an immediate crush on her. This always made me jealous, but then I'd look at her and understand. _How could you **not** want her?_

"Oh. How long?" His unimportant questions started to get on my nerves. _Stop digging into my personal life!_ _Ask me something that matters already! _The wide range of things I was thinking of doing to him, none of which were the slightest bit good for his physical health, must have been displayed on my face after he asked me this; he looked scared again and dropped his gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry…I…" All of my fighter instincts told me to punch him, but the paternal Zinck stayed in control long enough to answer.

"About five years. We have kids- kid." I corrected myself, still unsure about the unborn baby's fate. "Our daughter's name's Eve. She's four." That crushed all his hopes. _Good._

"Oh." He quickly looked down at the floor, and then scanned the unfamiliar room questioningly. "So, you still haven't told me, where are we?"

I wore an expression of true seriousness as I said, "Morpheus will explain everything I won't. I promise you, tomorrow. Right now, all I can tell you is that we are on the hovercraft, the Nebuchadnezzar II."

"Hovercraft?" It wasn't really a question directed at me; it was more like he was talking to himself. He decided to let that subject go for now and bring up a new one. "So, what, are you like the leader or something?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Morpheus is, not me. Why would you think that?"

"Well, for one, you were pretty much acting like the leader when you came to my apartment to get me. And two, you're the only one who seems to care." I considered this. He was right, I had been demanding and in-control in the Matrix during the last mission, and he probably thought I was down in the infirmary to keep watch over them _both._ _Just think whatever you want to kid…_

Once again the subject was changed.

"You hungry?" He looked at me with an expression that read: _Hell yeah! _"Just don't get too excited kid."

I walked him down to the mess hall where I had the privilege of pouring him his first meal of slop. He looked down at it, sniffed it and finally put a spoonful into his mouth. I silently laughed behind him as he choked on it, and then swallowed it quickly.

"Good, eh?" I said to him as I hit him on the back.

"What is this _stuff_?"

"Synthetic protein substitute." He obviously didn't like how it tasted, but was too hungry not to eat it, and continued to shovel it into his mouth.

In between gulps he managed to ask, "So, where are the others?"

"Asleep, as we should be; it's very late."

"How long have I been out?"

"About ten or eleven hours is my best guess."

"But wouldn't that mean it's sometime in the afternoon?"

"Morpheus will explain everything to you tomorrow morning, just trust me."

"Who was that man with you in my apartment when you came to get me? I mean, he freaking flew! And you! You dodged bullets and then one stopped right in front of your eyes! I saw it! I saw it happen!" His eyes grew wide as he slowly recalled what had happened to us the last time we were in the Matrix. "How'd you do that?"

"To be honest, I don't know how I did what I did, I'm lucky to be alive, but my-" I almost said 'father' until I stopped myself. I wasn't sure of how much of my personal life I should reveal to him, "Er… Neo. He can do all kinds of unbelievable thi-." My last comment was interrupted as a sudden yawn overcame me. The painkillers were still working; I was becoming very drowsy and not sure how much longer I could stay awake. "Look kid, I'm exhausted and really need to get some sleep. I know you're not tired, and I'm not going to leave you alone your first night here. Let me try to get someone up to stay with you." He nodded, not feeling rejected in any way.

I dragged my feet, clad in their usual heavy, thick boots, along the cold metal floor of the corridor to the bedrooms, Distortion trailing behind me like a lost puppy. In a sense, he was. I thought the best person to go to first was obviously, Morpheus. I walked over to his and Niobe's door and raised my fist to knock. My eyes snapped fully open as my ears translated the sounds of moaning coming from behind the closed, and hopefully, locked, steel door. This realization made me slightly sick to my stomach, and think better of knocking now. I turned back around to face Distortion and placed a finger to my lips to signal him to be quiet. _Now who was I going to get to watch over him if not Morpheus?_

I walked to Link and Zee's room and knocked.

"Who is it?" said Link with a voice thick with sleep.

"It's Zinck. The kid's up. I'd stay up with him, but those painkillers are threatening my consciousness right now."

"Sure I'll stay up with him. Be right there." Within seconds, he was out the door.

He smiled and introduced himself to Distortion. "Hi, I'm Link."

"Chr-, er, Distortion." He corrected himself.

Link playfully hit his arm. "I know." I smiled at Distortion's facial reaction. He was making it clear that he was sick of us knowing everything about him, and in turn he didn't know a damned thing about us.

"Good night Zinck." Link said, directing Distortion back down the hallway toward the mess hall again.

"Good night guys." I said, already half-asleep, to their retreating backs.

I wanted to stay with Cat in the infirmary and to be there when she woke up, God I wanted to be there, but my body had different plans. My room was closer. As I opened the door my vision became blurry around the edges. I threw the door back strong enough for it to shut, but not to make much noise or for it to completely lock. I forced myself onto the bed and fell asleep. I don't even recall feeling my head touch the pillow.

**Maybe you have a few ideas/ suggestions? I'd like to hear them. Please leave me a review.**


	9. Love, Emotion, and Uncertainty

_Thanks to my very loyal reviewers who keep me motivated to write: Phia the Ducati Chick, Sydney Andrews, and x.ShatteredImage.x. Hey, if you want to be recognized on an author's note, leave a review! I can see on my stats there are a lot of hits on this story, but not nearly as many reviews!_

**I know I haven't updated in a while. (Sorry!) I really hate the last few weeks of school when _everything_ is due in what seems like two days… and finals aren't even over yet…**

**This chapter really brings out the love between Cat and Zinck. Please review!**

EnJOi

(And yes, I _finally_ changed my disclaimer…)

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Matrix because I am not one of the W. brothers. I do not own rights to any of the original characters of the Matrix. The characters of Zinck, Caitlin, Eve, Amir, and any other characters you don't recognize from any of the Matrix Trilogy movies ARE mine though. Everything I write here is not for personal profit, it just makes me feel better to type out my anger with the world. Grrr… Also, anything that is similar in this story to any other story, FanFiction or professional, is purely coincidental.**

(Told from Zinck's POV)

I awoke slowly, without opening my eyes and not immediately remembering anything that happened yesterday. I stretched and sensed the emptiness of the bed. The events of the day before flooded into my head. In one fluent motion, I threw myself out of bed, swung open the door, and continued to run down the hallway, to the infirmary.

When I got there, my heart sank. She was gone. The bed she rested on just hours before, was cleaned, and vacant. I assumed the worst. I was about to break down right there, to give up on life. Where was Morpheus?

I ran through the corridors, screaming, "Morpheus! Morpheus!" Thoughts raced through my brain: _Cat, you can't be dead. What would I do? What would I tell Eve?_ My eyes became increasingly moist as I thought about our family together. "Morpheus!" I quite literally ran into him as came running toward me from the mess hall.

"Zinck? What's wrong? What happened?" He asked me in his low, baritone voice and grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to halt.

"Where's Cat? Is she alright?"

"God, you scared me. Cat's much better than last night, Zinck. Thankfully, the knife completely missed her vitals. How it didn't puncture at least one is beyond me. Her wound has finally stopped bleeding. We had to give her an infusion though; she lost a lot of blood. Now the biggest concern is infection. She is in the mess hall right now, with Distortion."

"Thank you." I said, truly meaning it, as I hurriedly brushed past him, into the mess hall.

Cat was staring at the doorway, anticipating me. Distortion was sitting across from her, mug in hand. I didn't care what the kid saw. I ran to her, slung my arm around her neck, and kissed her passionately, reassuringly, to remind myself of just how human, real, and _alive_ we were.

I rested my forehead on hers after we broke the kiss and said, "I missed you."

"I can tell." She slightly smiled at this comment. Distortion took this opportunity to get up from the table and wash his mug under the faucet. His face was red, but I knew he understood. He understood that Cat and I were in love, and that that connection was deeper than just physical attraction, something more. He had respect for us now, and now I had respect for him as well.

"How long until we arrive in Zion?" I asked Cat.

"About another four hours." Niobe answered the question as she walked into the mess hall for some breakfast. "We already radioed the city to prepare for our arrival. A doctor has been called for Cat as soon as we get there. All operations in the Matrix and around 01 have been stopped, and all ships were given a direct order to return to Zion." She said as she poured a bowl full of protein substitute and got a clean spoon from a drawer.

I decided to skip to the most important question on my mind. "Niobe, do you think this was all the work of the Merovingian?"

She didn't look at me as she proceeded to the doorway, paused right in front of it, and looked down at the floor. "Yes." She walked out, up the ladder and to the cockpit.

Cat and I sat in stunned silence as we heard the cockpit door creak open, and close again. _But why? Why now? What did they want with Distortion?_

"Who is the Merovingian?" Distortion asked

"An enemy." I said, not looking at him, my eyes narrowed and unfocused, staring at the far wall. "Did Morpheus already give you the grand tour and explain everything?"

"Yeah." _Good. I really didn't want to have to do that…_

"Good."

"He didn't really, exactly say what Zion was though." I closed my eyes and sighed. _God damn it Morpheus!_

"It's the last human city on Earth kid." I didn't dare open my eyes to see his reaction.

"Son? Are you in here?" My eyes opened and I saw Neo appear in the doorway, looking uneasy.

"Yeah. Right here." Distortion stared at us. He looked taken back, and confused, as usual. I didn't know whether it was because of the Zion comment, Neo calling me 'son', or that the fact that Neo was blind in the real world and none of us found this strange that he had vision just yesterday.

"How's your hand? Is it any better?" He asked as he walked in.

I tried moving my fingers and turning my wrist. It was hard and sort of painful to do this, but at least my hand still worked… "Yeah, it's getting better."

"Good." He finally sensed we weren't the only ones in the room. "Cat? Are you in here too?"

"Yes."

He made his way over to her. "Are you any better?"

"I am."

"Good."

"Neo, I need to talk to you… privately." Morpheus popped his head in the doorway. Neo seemed like he didn't want to leave our sides; he just stood there. "Now, Neo." Neo started to make his way to the door.

"Wait. Neo, can I ask you to do something for me?" I asked

"Of course."

"Can you contact Kid and make sure Eve isn't at the dock when we arrive? I don't want her seeing us like this."

"I understand. It's no problem."

"Thank you."

Morpheus cleared his throat.

"Yes, I'm sorry." Neo said and left with Morpheus.

Cat and I walked to our room, silently. She winced with every step. Once we got inside, she moved next to the bed and I followed. I pulled down the covers for her to allow her to carefully slide into bed, and I climbed in next to her. We lay apart, hardly touching. We were afraid to; we didn't want to cause each other any pain.

I finally broke the silence between us. "Cat, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"No, are you _really_ okay?"

"Zinck-" her sentence was cut short as she started to cry. I propped myself up on my elbow and brought my hand to her cheek. She closed her eyes, put her hand over mine, and started to speak again. "That was the scariest few minutes of my life. First, before you even got there, Morpheus, Distortion and I were ambushed by the Merovingian's men. One of them stabbed me, and then twisted me around in a trap position. Morpheus ordered Distortion to hide behind the counter and stay as low as he possibly could. Just then, you broke in through the door and killed the one them with one of your knives."

"Cat, I'm so sorry I did that. I didn't even know what I was doing. I could have hit you…" I whispered the last sentence.

"No, Zinck, it's… it's fine. But after that, what happened, oh God. Zinck, I thought I was going to loose you." She grabbed my shirt, pulled me down toward her, threw her arms around me and started to sob. I held my body up with one elbow, so my entire bodyweight didn't press against her.

I tried comforting her by rubbing her shoulders and softly saying, "I'm alright Cat. I'm alright. _We're_ alright."

Eventually, her crying subsided. "How did you do that? You moved so fast, and then, then that bullet! It stopped right in front of your face!"

"I don't know, Cat. I just don't know. The bullet had to have been Neo's doing." _Wasn't it?_

Now it was my turn to take a leap of faith. I closed my eyes, and asked, "What about the baby?" I laid my hand on her stomach, instinctively as I said it. She again, covered my hand with hers.

"We don't know yet Zinck." She looked uneasy at my question. "But, our child's bound to be tough." She stoked my hair as she tried to soothe me.

"You think it will be alright?"

"I hope so." She motioned for me to lie down again. I complied. She rested her head on top of my shoulder, laid flat on her back and I put my arm around her. She interlaced our fingers and placed our hands on top of her lower stomach. I thought I was going to cry. So much raw emotion. So much uncertainty. _I had to know._

Eventually, our breathing became the same, and our hearts fell into the same rhythm. We tossed the blanket off the bed, onto the floor. We didn't need it, despite the chilliness; all we needed was each other's body warmth. That's all we ever really needed: each other. It was going to be a long four hours until we arrived back in Zion.

**Hey all you who never reviewed this story! Please, everyone who has read this, review! I would really like some feedback as to how I write emotional parts of this story. Was it good? Did it suck? It's your opinion. Express it!**


	10. Journey

**_I finally posted this chapter because looking at it drove me SO FAR into insanity... that I think I'm now back on the edge of sanity... idk..._**

* * *

Zinck jerked awake when a tremor was sent though the entire ship as it landed. Cat was still fast asleep. Usually, she was an even lighter sleeper than he was, but she must have been exhausted from the past few days' events. They had hardly moved; Cat's head was still on his shoulder, her face turned slightly toward his chest, their hands stayed grasped together firmly, on her stomach. No matter how much he didn't want to wake her, it was inevitable; she needed medical attention.

"Cat? Cat, wake up." He said to her in the softest tone he could manage.

"Hmm?" She said, her eyes still closed

"We're here."

" Zion?" She sat up suddenly and yelped in pain from the wound on her side.

Her lover put his arm around her shoulders from behind and pulled himself up as well. "Jeez, Cat, are you okay?"

She looked down at the source of her suffering, put a protective hand over it and nodded.

He didn't know what to do. There really _was_ nothing he could do for her, to ease her discomfort in any way. If he carried her, her injury might stretch and become even worse. No, she'd have to walk on her own. Zinck wished it were him in her place; it tore him apart inside to see her like this.

He slid off the bed first. Cat used him as support as she stood, hissing in pain as the muscles in her side contracted.

She raised her palm to his cheek, ran her thumb over the slight stubble that had grown there and then gripped his hand. "Come on," she saidand led him to the door. They left all their belongings behind.

At the dock, an entire team of EMTs in matching white and blue uniforms greeted the couple.

"Come with us, please." One of them motioned with his hand.

They laid Cat on a stretcher to be carried to the hospital level of the city as her husband walked behind.

* * *

Level 65. Medical services.

They took Cat into one room labeled "Ultrasound", and left Zinck outside. He sat and grunted at the stiffness in his right shoulder.

He stayed there for quite some time until a doctor approached him. "Mr. - ?"

"Just call me Zinck."

"Okay. Mr. Zinck." Zinck rolled his eyes. "Your wife has been moved to room 13."

He bolted out of the chair.

"Thank you."

He walked speedily down the blue steel hallway. 10, 11, 12, 13.

He gripped the cold doorknob, took a deep breath and turned it.

Cat was sitting propped up with pillows in a hospital bed.

"What happened?" He asked from the doorway.

The only reply he got was a smile.

"Oh, thank God." The pressure in his chest eased considerably. He ran over and hugged her tightly.

"What are we going to do about Eve?"

"I'll get her from Kid's later. How long are you going to have to stay here?"

"Just the night."

"God, that's good to hear." He hugged her again.

"Zinck?" Neo stood behind him, fumbling with the hem of his ripped, grease-stained gray shirt. "Any news about... you know..."

"The baby's fine."

Neo exhaled and the lines on his face lightened. "That's fantastic news. It's important that we talk."

"When? Now?" Zinck asked

"I'm afraid so."

Zinck turned back around to face Cat. He ran his fingers through her soft, dark hair, to the back of her long neck and kissed her deeply, lovingly.

"Go." She ordered him.

"Alright." He breathed and began to walk off, dragging his hand down the exposed, warm skin of her arm and savoring every moment they were touching. Of course he wanted to stay with her, but for some reason, he felt that he _had_ to go with Neo, like a third party was acting on him. And it was another thing for him to disobey a direct order from his wife. (Even in her current state, she could kick his ass...) _But we well know that the reason most of us are here is because of our affinity for disobedience..._ He stopped for a second. "Where the hell did _that_ come from!" he mumbled under his breath and shook it from his mind. "What?" He asked

"Not here. Come with me." Neo began to walk so quickly to one of the elevators, he was almost jogging. Zinck raised an eyebrow at him and followed with a hand on Neo's shoulder to guide him where to walk.

They changed elevators several times until they arrived at Neo's apartment. "What are we doing?" Zinck questioned as Neo unlocked the front door.

Silence.

Zinck sighed and entered after Neo.

"Sit." Neo ordered him. Zinck's eyes narrowed. Now he _knew_ something was up. He obeyed the order.

Neo disappeared into another room and came back holding a small brown, leather-like folder. He handed it to his son.

"What's this?" He asked as he unknotted the string binding it and opened it to reveal two old, faded and creased photos. Both of the same woman with short black hair and beautiful, blue eyes. In the first one, she had a neutral expression on her face and was dressed in a dark, navy blue sweater and brown drawstring pants against a bluish background of steel with patches of red rust. Small, but strong.

Zinck cocked his head. "Is this-" He started.

"Yes. Trinity."

He looked down again. "Military clothing."

"She was second in command to Morpheus on the original _Nebuchadnezzar_."

He had already known that from the way Morpheus would boast about her on the rare occasions he would ask about his mother. His jaw dropped when he saw the next picture. The second, larger photo was of Trinity smiling in an earthen cave. She was wearing a delicate-looking beige shirt and a long cream colored skirt. "The temple."

"Yes."

"She was beautiful, Dad."

Neo continued to look down at the ground. "Yeah." He said in a broken voice. "A lot of good they were doing me in my desk drawer for the last couple of years. And, I'm _blind_ for God's sake." He laughed a little to try and lighten the situation, but Zinck stayed serious. Neo cleared his throat and sat next to his son. "I want you to have them."

Zinck looked from the pictures in his hands to his father. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Wow. Thank you." Neo patted Zinck on the back and rose from the couch. Zinck did the same. "I uh, I better go get Eve now."

"Yeah. Okay. Um, Zinck there are some more things I wanted to go over with you. Meet me later?"

"Uhm, sure."

He left the apartment and walked to the elevator. Empty. His finger hovered over the button for Kid's apartment's level. He withdrew his hand and stared at the array of buttons. He thought for a second before reaching out and pressing the one for the temple. Zinck sighed, retied the string around the folder and stuffed it into his pocket. He needed to clear his head. He needed to talk to _someone..._

He walked toward the middle of the huge underground wonder. His bare feet hardly made any sound on the alternating sand and hard rock floor as he moved. Next to one of the great pillars, he found what he was looking for. The words,

"_In nomina Feminae, et Viraginis, et Paeanis_"

Latin. '_In the name of the Woman, the Warrior, and the Healer._' A powerful statement that couldn't be more true about her.

"_Deticated in Memory of Trinity_

_Beloved first mate of the Nebuchadnezzar,_

_Mother_"

were engraved into a beautiful, black, gray and white slab of marble. Her gravestone. Of course, the last line wasn't added until about eighteen years after her death, when they found him. There were just days-old flowers around the base of the stone. It was nice to know she was never forgotten.

He sat on the bench-like rock next to it. He had never been here by himself. Usually, he'd go with Cat, Neo, or Morpheus, or all three of them. This was certainly something different. "Hi, mom. Cat and the baby are alright. Neo seems... a little distracted lately." He heard children's laughter bounce off the cavern's walls. It jogged his memory. "I haven't seen Eve yet since we've been home though. I wonder what this whole thing is... Distortion, me moving at agent speed, that... _that bullet_... _Is it the Merovingian?_"

No reply. (Like he was expecting one.)

Visiting here made him feel even more confused and restless than before.

A brown soccer ball rolled to Zinck's feet. He stood and picked it up. Children laughing again.

Suddenly, a group of three youths, just eight or nine years old ran around the pillar and into view. The kids gasped and stopped in their tracks when they saw Zinck.

"_My dad told me he's Neo and Trinity's son._" The first boy loudly whispered to the girl. The other boy just stood, open mouthed, staring. Their attention swayed from him to the marble stone and back and forth.

Zinck forced a happy expression onto his face. He smiled and handed the ball to kid who had commented about him. "This must be yours?"

The child nodded, took the ball and smiled back. "Yeah. My name's Gabriel." he offered his hand to Zinck.

"I'm Zinck." They all stared, bug-eyed at him after he confirmed their suspicions. He smirked and started toward the elevator.

* * *

**_Many thanks to Sydney Andrews for looking this over. And also to SilverAshes for helping me out with mydilemma about what to put on Trinity's gravestone. hugs SilverAshes and Syd(And all the rest of you at TLG) Loves ya! XP lol (I should stop before I hurt myself... :P )_**


	11. Pavor Nocturnus

_**I'd like to thank the gigantic migraine I got from writing this. rubs head It actually inspired me to write in a weird... painful... way. lol And this chapter's pretty much all fluff and questions so... I just hope you all don't want to kill me by the end. Also, I don't have spell check :Pso do please point out any errors I missed.**__**

* * *

**_

"Daddy!" The happiest four-year-old in Zion exclaimed and ran toward him.

Zinck beamed, kneeled down and took her into his arms. "Eve!"

Kid walked up to them. "Zinck, how's..."

He mouthed, "They're fine," over her shoulder.

Kid just nodded.

Eve pulled away from the embrace. "Where's Mom?"

"Uhm... She uh..." He took a deep breath. He wouldn't lie to her. Truth be told, he _couldn't_. But the last thing he wanted to do was to scare her. Afterall, she's just a kid. He picked his words out carefully. "She's fine but she needs to stay in the hospital tonight, sweetheart."

She had a questioning look in her eye.

"You wanna go see her?"

"Yes."

They arrived on level 65 with Eve atop Zinck's shoulders. Room 13. He opened the door just far enough to stick his head in. Cat was fast asleep under the pure white hospital bed sheets. 

"Shh!" He quietly warned as he looked up at Eve and pressed his finger to his lips.

Zinck gently swung the door open wider, trying his best to keep it from squeaking. He crept over to the bed and sat his daughter down on the edge, next to her mother's arm.

Cat's heart rate and breathing were slow. She lay there, perfectly serene and peaceful. Eve watched her, head tilted with interest. Nothing but calm, quiet, and stillness until she simultaneously opened one eye, smirked, grabbed Eve around the waist and pulled her toward her. "Ahhh!"

Eve giggled. "Mommy!" She wrapped her arms around her neck.

Cat closed her eyes and squeezed Eve's tiny body back. "I missed you."

"Me too."

Zinck grinned at his wife's tricky behavior and pulled up the only chair in the room next to the bed.

* * *

They stayed and talked and laughed for quite some time until Eve, now in the chair, fought to remain awake as her eyes fluttered open and closed. Zinck and Cat looked on at her as she finally lost the battle of fatigue. She had her legs up on the seat, pulled up against her chest with her head resting on one knee. She was so small, she barely took up half the chair. 

"I better take her home." Zinck yawned

Cat smiled and sighed. "Yeah." He leaned in to kiss her once on the cheek and then started to move away.

She grabbed his shirt collar. Startled, his eyes snapped fully open. "Oh, you don't think you're getting away _that_ easy, do you?" She said to him jokingly, tugged him toward her and trapped his lips with her own. God, she was strong. He chuckled in the back of his throat and pulled back.

"Are you on steroids?"

"Maybe..."

"Any other kinds of drugs?"

She rolled her eyes. "Zinck, just _leave..."_

"If you insist, your _Highness_." He winked, went over to the chair and gathered his daughter in his arms.

Again, she rolled her eyes at his good-humored stupidity. "Good night, Zinck."

"G'night. See you tomorrow, Cat."

Back to the elevator. He hit the button for his cave. _Wait. _He suddenly remembered. _Neo._ What he wanted to talk about had to be important. The small, blue and black digital clock next to his hand read quarter to midnight. Neo wouldn't mind a visit this late, well at least he _thought_ he wouldn't. Zinck sighed, shifted Eve's weight in his arms and pressed his father's apartment level.

He knocked on the red metal door. Neo opened it a second later, looking down, rubbing his temple. His hair was mussed.

"Sorry, Dad. Did I wake you?"

"Zinck? Ah, no. Don't worry about it. Come in." He threw the door open and gestured for him to come inside.

"I have Eve with me. She's asleep." Zinck took her into the small guest bedroom of Neo's home, walked back out to the living room and closed the door behind him. "So, what did you want to speak to me about?"

"The other day, in the Matrix."

"In that old shop?" A cold chill ran down his spine as he recalled that day's events. "I owe you my life for that."

"What?"

"You killed that Twin... and the bullet. You saved me."

"Zinck, I didn't do that..."

There was a pause. "What?"

"I didn't stop that bullet."

"Then... who did?"

"You would have been my first guess."

An even longer pause. "No. Not me, surely. I was certain I was going to die. I was about to let it happen. I wasn't thinking clearly at all. Isn't that what you've lectured me on all this time? To _free my mind?_"

"Yes."

"Well, it most definitely wasn't."

Neo considered this and cocked his head. "If not you or me, who?"

Zinck let his jaw go slack and shook his head. "I... I don't know. And we think the Merovingian is the _cause_ of all this?"

"The Council hasn't announced its opinion yet. But personally, my gut feeling is that we're dealing with a force greater than Merv was in the past."

"Merv?"

Neo smiled. "Your mother's own personal nickname for him."

Zinck mimicked his father's facial expression. "She threatened him then, didn't she?"

"Yep. At gunpoint. To get me."

"What do you mean, '_To get me.'_?"

Neo looked in Zinck's direction, drew in a deep breath and moved closer. "Son, sit down. I think it's time I told you the whole story right up front. I know you've had talks with Morpheus and actually, you know very little of what happened those first few months I was out."

Zinck was surprised by this offer, but wasn't about to pass it up. "Okay."

Neo began telling the dramatic and heart-wrenching tale of what he and his soul mate went through to save the rest of their kind. Hardly anyone believed they could do it. End the war with a single vessel. Two soldiers, fighting 'til death. Just Morpheus, Kid, Hammon and a few others had absolute faith in them. _Blind faith._

The younger man couldn't process all that was being thrown at him. He needed something to wake him up. God, he wished coffee existed in the real world.

Finally, Neo finished and Zinck paced back to his house, completely lost in his own thoughts. He didn't even remember unlocking his front door and going inside. The reality of what he was doing finally caught up with him when he took Eve to her bedroom, laid her down on her bed and tucked the sand-colored covers snugly around her in the dim light. He stepped back and marveled at her youthful beauty. Her petite, thin body. Her long, jet-black hair. Some strands beaded and tied into tight braids like a typical Zionist child. She looked so much like her mother. He knew for certain she and Cat were the only things that kept him sane. Tethered to the real world. Zinck smiled and pulled the door shut behind him as he proceeded to his own room, kicked off his boots and laid back on his and Cat's bunk, groaning at the dull pain still present in his muscles. He covered his eyes with an arm and eventually drifted off. Rotating between REM and a deeper state of sleep. It was a restless night for him, however; his subconscious wouldn't let him forget about his conversation with Neo and all the new uncertainities they faced.

* * *

**A few hours later**

_A thin woman dressed in a full body suit jumps out of a window of a skyscraper. Shiny black leather reflecting what little light there was from the street lights and surrounding buildings. She's followed closely by a man wearing a business suit and sunglasses._

_Although he's never seen one with his own eyes, he knows it's an agent. Perhaps it's wired into his brain. An instinct like the one a newborn has to immediately recognize a human face._

_Gunfire._

_She's holstering twin machine guns. He: a single pistol. A Browning Hi-Power. It's fast, but it's in slow motion._

_There are so many sharp details he is able to point out against the blurry green and black background. She has black hair, beautiful features._

Cat?_ No, her hair is too short. He knows her from... somewhere..._

_One of the bullets finds its target, wedging itself in between the bones of her rib cage. Her palse races. Her eyes grow wide with the new pain she's experiencing. It's a fatal shot, undeniably._

Inevitable.

_They both comintue to plummit toward the hard concrete and asphalt below. She is going to die, and there is nothing _he_ could possibly do to stop it. The question was, what would kill her first? The pool of her own blood collecting in her lung, both drowning and draining her at the same time? Or the unforgiving ground?_

_Wait... that face..._

"Mom?" Zinck asked his empty bedroom as he woke abruptly and sat up. It took him a second to even realize what happened. He dreampt it. All of it. Fiction from the deepest confides of his mind. Just fiction. _What induced that? _He mused and rubbed his eyes to see clearly._ Night terror... pavor nocturnus,__ maybe?_ He ran his fingers through his short hair the color of dark onyx gemstone. It all felt so random.

Just then, the doorbell rang. "What timing..." He grunted and rolled out of bed to answer it.

"Good morning, sir. I'm Private Sanders, Councillor Grace's personal assistant. Sleep well?"

Zinck yawned and leaned against the doorframe. "Not exactly."

"I'm sorry to hear that, sir. I'm hear to inform you of a formal ceremony held by the Council in the Temple at 13 hundred hours and a manditory meeting for the personel of all hovercraft in Zion's fleet to follow right after."

"Oh." Zinck raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Um, yeah. Okay. Ceremony for what?"

"I'd tell you, sir, but honestly, I don't even know."

"Hm. Alright, then. I'll be there."

* * *

_**That coffee bit was for you, Syd. :D Oh, and yeah, Zinck (and I) are rather bad with puns too. (I couldn't resist. It was just TOO easy) Do any of you want to guess who stopped that bullet? Syd: raises her hand enthusiastically Zinck: rolls eyes Does anyone else want to take a stab at it? (lol jk)**_


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